We don’t normally recommend redeeming your KrisFlyer miles to pay for purchases using the Kris+ app, given the terrible 0.67 cents per mile fixed value you’ll usually get when doing so, by far one of the poorest ways to spend your miles even when using them as a cash equivalent.
During a Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotion running this weekend, Kris+ is offering 45% miles back on your purchases, almost doubling the value of KrisFlyer miles transferred and redeemed using the app at one of over 140 merchants.
1.21 cents per mile isn’t a good return by any means, so we certainly don’t recommend ‘cashing out’ via this method for most of our readers (even in the current climate), however some of you may find it tempting to use up some of your balance this way.
Beware though, it’s not as simple as it sounds.
45% miles-back promotion
For the next five days, from 26th November to 30th November, you’ll be able to benefit from the largest ever miles-back promotion Kris+ has offered.
When you transfer miles from your KrisFlyer account then pay for your in-store purchases using the Kris+ app, you’ll get 45% miles-back instantly.
Here’s an example for two different purchase amounts.
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| Purchase | S$50 | S$100 |
| KrisPay miles | 7,500 | 15,000 |
| 45% miles-back | -3,375 | -6,750 |
| Net miles spent | 4,125 | 8,250 |
| Value per mile | 1.21 | |
As you can see you’ll get the same value per mile regardless of the purchase total.
The catch: It’s not really 1.21 cents per mile
On the face of it, 1.21 cents per mile isn’t a terrible way to cash out some of your KrisFlyer miles, but be careful, it’s not that simple.
Remember the miles-back earned cannot be transferred back into KrisFlyer miles, you’ll have to use them for Kris+ purchases before they expire, within six months of the transfer date.
If you can’t use the miles-back earned under this five-day promotion, you’ll potentially be earning only 0.67 cents per mile rebate redeeming them against a future purchase outside any subsequent offer.
An example
Say I transfer 15,000 KrisFlyer miles to Kris+ for a S$100 purchase at Harvey Norman, like the second example in the table above. I have achieved S$100 value from the net 8,250 miles spent after the rebate (1.21 cents per mile). I now have 6,750 KrisPay miles in the app.
If I don’t make another purchase during the promotion period, those 6,750 KrisPay miles will only be worth 0.67 cents each when I eventually have to use them before they expire, so I can use them to offset a S$45.22 purchase.
In total therefore my 15,000 miles have only gained me S$145.22 (S$100 + S$45.22), which is 0.97 cents per mile.
Solution: Make multiple purchases
The only way around this is to make multiple purchases during the five-day promotion window, a much more complicated proposition, in order to progressively use up the miles you earn back each time (you can never really fully do this, but you can get close).
For example, here’s how the value per mile looks for each transaction if you stop spending after that transaction is completed, then redeem the rebate at the standard 0.67 cents rate post-promotion.
| Purchase | Miles | Rebate | Value per mile (if you stop spending) |
| S$100 | 15,000 | 6,750 | 0.97¢ |
| S$45 | 6,716 | 3,022 | 1.10¢ |
| S$20 | 2,985 | 1,343 | 1.16¢ |
| S$9 | 1,343 | 604 | 1.19¢ |
Example: If I stop spending after the second purchase, I have achieved S$145 value from my 15,000 KrisFlyer miles, and have S$20.24 value left from the 3,022 KrisPay miles I will redeem after the promotion. Total value S$145 + S$20.24 = S$165.24 / 15,000 miles = 1.10 cpm.
As you can see after four relatively ‘optimal’ transactions, you’ve achieved 1.19 cents of value per mile (S$174 of purchases for your initial 15,000 miles plus the S$4 value you’ve got left from the remaining 604 miles redeemable at 0.67 cents each after the promotion period).
You could keep repeating this process with progressively smaller purchases to reach an overall value of 1.21 cents per mile, but to be honest we don’t think anyone is going to go to the effort of making more than four separate Kris+ pay transactions over a long weekend!
The minimum transaction is only S$0.10 (15 KrisPay miles before the 45% rebate), so if you’re going to participate – try to use them all up during this promotion period, even for a coffee at one of the Kris+ F&B outlets.
Full terms and conditions for the 45% miles-back offer are available here.
How does it compare?
As we’ve already said, 1.21 cents per mile (or somewhere close to that) isn’t great value for your hard-earned KrisFlyer miles, but if you’ve got more than you know what to do with or have genuine concerns about getting good value from them in future, this isn’t actually one of the worst ways to use them.
A First or Business Class redemption on Singapore Airlines should easily net you more than 1.9 cents per mile in value, but here are the other alternatives for ‘cashing out’.
| Method | Min. miles | Value per mile |
| Transfer to Shangri-La points for ‘Instant Dining Awards’ Jade / Diamond SLGC status |
20,000 | 1.40¢ |
| Kris+ Black Friday Promo | 15 | 1.21¢ |
| Transfer to Shangri-La points for ‘Instant Dining Awards’ Gold SLGC status |
20,000 | 1.12¢ |
| Credit towards an SIA / SilkAir cash ticket | 980 | 1.02¢ |
| Credit towards a Scoot cash ticket | 1,050 | 0.95¢ |
| Redeem a vRooms hotel stay | 1,200 | 0.80¢ |
| Redeem a KrisShop purchase | 1,000 | 0.80¢ |
| Transfer to Tap for More points | 3,000 | 0.73¢ |
| Redeem a vRooms hotel stay | 1,200 | 0.80¢ |
| Kris+ (regular rate) | 15 | 0.67¢ |
As you can see this elevates the value of redeeming your KrisFlyer miles via Kris+ from the worst to one of the better ‘cash out’ alternatives, though the value remains very poor, and multiple transactions will be required in a five-day period, so this still won’t suit most people.
Where can you redeem KrisPay miles?
Kris+ now has 141 earning partners at the time of writing, including many retail and F&B outlets. See the full list here, with the latest additions including furniture store Prestige Affairs, mattress company SIMMONS and ramen restaurant Kanada-Ya.
Remember to redeem KrisPay miles using the Kris+ app you’ll need to be physically present for an in-store transaction. Kris+ is not designed for online shopping.
Our advice: EARN don’t spend
As we’ve said many times, our advice is always to earn miles when making purchases through Kris+ merchants, not spend them.
That holds true even with promotional offers like this one, potentially almost doubling the value of your KrisFlyer miles if you have sufficient purchases to make over this five-day period.
Earn rates vary by Kris+ merchant but range typically from 1 mpd to 3 mpd for the majority of partners.
The most important thing about earning is that KrisPay miles earned through Kris+ can only be transferred to your KrisFlyer account within 7 days of the transaction. To do so, tap on the “Transfer to KrisFlyer” button which will appear on the miles earned confirmation screen or transaction details screen.
KrisPay miles earned per transaction can only be transferred to your account in their entirety. If you earned 100 KrisPay miles from a single Kris+ transaction, the full 100 KrisPay miles must be transferred to your KrisFlyer account. If you have already spent some of your KrisPay miles earned, a partial transfer option is not available.
We therefore recommend transferring to KrisFlyer immediately following any Kris+ earning transaction, in case you either forget or make a mistake later.
Summary
Our golden rule for Kris+ (the new name for the KrisPay app) is the same – use it to earn miles not to redeem them, even with offers like this.
With KrisFlyer progressively extending the validity of expiring miles in recent months and hopes of some return to normal in 2021 as deployment of COVID-19 vaccines potentially unlock more leisure travel, we certainly won’t be cashing out our miles at 1.21 cents each (or realistically something less than that) during this promotion.
Some of you may be tempted to do so though, based on your own personal valuation or miles balance, in which case you’ve got just five days to participate.
Remember you’ll have to make several transactions during the promotion to get the full benefit, since the miles-back earned for each purchase are stuck in Kris+ and will only be worth 1.21 cents each when used to pay for subsequent purchases by 30th November 2020, reverting to 0.67 cents per mile value after that.
For a single purchase in the five-day promotion period, you’ll actually only get 0.97 cents per mile of value under this deal.
That means you’ll have to make more than one purchase during this five-day promotion period to truly get 1.21 cents per mile (or something close to that) from your initial KrisFlyer transfer.
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)